SD teachers prepare to negotiate

The median outside Hearst Elementary School in San Diego's Del Cerro neighborhood was lined with signs bearing the images of laid off teachers on Tuesday, the last day of school. One in five teachers in the San Diego Unified School District will be laid off effective June 30 unless unions agree to concessions or the district finds new revenue sources.

The median outside Hearst Elementary School in San Diego's Del Cerro neighborhood was lined with signs bearing the images of laid off teachers on Tuesday, the last day of school. One in five teachers in the San Diego Unified School District will be laid off effective June 30 unless unions agree to concessions or the district finds new revenue sources.

The San Diego teachers union has assembled a bargaining team in preparation with negotiations with the district to save jobs and keep class sizes manageable next year, labor leaders announced Tuesday.

"There are no easy answers and simply ignoring the impact that the recession and the state budget have had on our local schools is not an option. We as educators have to make difficult decisions to protect our contract, stop the layoffs and continue to provide a quality education for our students," union president Bill Freeman told the union's 7,000 teachers in a memo posted on the San Diego Education Association Web site Tuesday.

The union is poised to talk with the San Diego Unified School District about potential concessions that could prevent layoffs. One in five teachers are set to lose their jobs effective June 30 under a massive personnel cut that would help the district offset a projected $122 million deficit to next year's $1.1 billion operating budget.

The district has asked teachers and other employees to forgo pay raises, extend furlough days for a third year and to accept changes to health benefits. The union has said it would discuss potential agreements without opening its contract with the district. However, union leaders have said changing health benefits is off the table.

The union attempted to survey its members about potential concessions but the telephone poll encountered problems and its results were never used, a union spokesman said. The union recruited budget analysts from the California Teachers Association to scrutinize the district's budget, a review that gave the organization confidence that the fiscal crisis is real.

The school board has until June 30 to adopt a final budget. The board is set to review a first reading of the budget next Tuesday, with a final adoption set for June 26.

Meanwhile, teachers, parents and students continue to protest the layoffs.

At Hearst Elementary School in Del Cerro, dozens rallied against layoffs. The median outside the campus was lined with signs bearing the photographs of laid off teachers.